A majority, 81 per cent, Indian gamers have lost ₹7,894 on an average due to cyberattacks. The 2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Special Release – Gaming & Cybercrime, conducted by The Harris Poll among 703 Indian adults who play online games found that three quarters of surveyed Indian gamers (75%) have experienced cyberattack to their gaming account, most commonly detecting malicious software on a gaming device (35%) and detecting unauthorized access to an online gaming account (29%).
More than 6 in 10 gamers in India (62%) say they picked up gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic and many (60%) say the amount of time they spend gaming has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gamers are also willing to take various actions that could compromise the security of themselves or others simply to give themselves a competitive edge. The research discovered that 2 in 5 Indian gamers (42%) say they are at least somewhat likely to hack into the account of a friend, family member, or romantic partner if they knew it would give them a competitive advantage.
Ritesh Chopra, Director Sales and Field Marketing, India & SAARC Countries, NortonLifeLock said, “Our report reveals that online gaming is not all about fun and games. In the virtual field we must take precautions to protect information we share, to avoid becoming vulnerable to cyberattack. With online gaming, come concerns including hidden fees and in-game currency, characters, or other items being lost or stolen, as our survey showed to be the case for over half of respondents (fees, 60%; in-game items, 58%). In these challenging times, it is crucial to stay updated and aware of the threats that can compromise your safety and privacy in this complex digital world.”
In India, 56 per cent of respondents say that they are at least somewhat likely to exploit a loophole or bug in a game to give themselves a competitive advantage, and around 2 in 5 or more would consider paying to take possession of another user’s gaming account (48%), installing cheats to their gaming account or gaming device (46%), or hacking into the gaming account of a random player (39%).
